Amanda Hill and David Do Rainbow Labour’s co-chairs are looking forward to getting paddling on a raft of pre-election policies they say deliver "a programme of hope" for glbti New Zealanders. David Do and Amanda Hill will be Rainbow Labour co-chairs heading into 2014, following elections by the Rainbow Sector Council during annual conference this past weekend. The Council thanked Richard Hills for his service as co-chair over the past year. The conference saw Labour back four specific rainbow policies heading into the next election: moves on adoption and sorting out transgender issues, school anti-bullying initiatives, and halting discrimination at school events. Do says marriage equality was a huge milestone for the rainbow community, but far more work needs to be done to make sure “everywhere we work, live, or learn is safe and inclusive”, especially for younger queer people. Hill says research shows suicide rates for queer or questioning youth are significantly higher than the general population. She says community groups are consistently under-resourced and not enough is being done by government to address these issues. “We have worked hard to get several policies adopted by the Party, and we hope they will make a real difference to queer youth and those who care for children once Labour is in government.” Do says Rainbow Labour will promote its rainbow MPs, candidates and policies next year, while also “engaging and learning from community groups and other rainbow organisations to enhance and advance our policy agenda and priorities”. Labour’s rainbow policies: • Taking action to eradicate discrimination, violence and bullying, and to combat suicide and self-harm by queer youth by improving the pastoral support given to queer youth in the education system and introducing mandatory anti-bullying reporting requirements to the remit of the Education Review Office, against which schools must report; • Repealing the Adoption Act 1955 and reforming the Care of Children Act 2004 to ensure that New Zealand's adoptions laws are modern, culturally appropriate and non-discriminatory; • Supporting transgender New Zealanders by implementing the recommendations of the Human Rights Commission's "To Be who I am: Report of the Inquiry into Discrimination Experienced by Transgender People"; and • Prohibiting Boards of Trustees from restricting the attendance of same-sex partners at school events. Labour is also looking at introducing standards for sex and sexuality education in schools. Party members at the Annual Conference also collectively adopted a constitutional change that will ensure the 2014 Labour Party List incorporates diversity by “fairly representing tangata whenua, gender, ethnic groups, people with disabilities, sexual orientation, age, and youth.”
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Thursday, 7th November 2013 - 2:13pm